After a long telephonic conversation about Akshaya Patra, Rajeev (Assistant Manager – Tele Collection) managed to get an appointment from Mrs. Reddy (name changed) a Headmistress of a Primary school. Rajeev was trying to schedule the appointment in the second half of the day as the place was quite far away, but she told in an uncompromising voice “be in my office sharp at 9 o’ clock.”

There were days when poor students would go to Teachers house to have “Varanna” in which the students would be fed once in a week. On a rotation, the student would go to different teacher’s house and other rich people in the locality. Now, many of them have grown and have a respectable position in the society.

Dr.Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks and chairman of Akshaya Patra, USA , has been appointed as one of the Co-Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, This is to support President Obama’s innovation strategy by helping to develop policies that foster entrepreneurship, create jobs, and drive economic growth. This was announced by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at a U.S. Department of Commerce University Innovation Forum at the University of Michigan.